Realm of Darkness
by The Silent One1
Summary: Shinji fights a father who runs the mysterious organizaton NERV. He gathers unknown friends and hidden foes alike as he struggles through mysterious creatures in his quest for vengance.
1. Default Chapter

An Evangelion Fanfic written by:  
  
The Silent One  
  
All characters are owned by (insert owners name here) and not by (insert fanfic authors Psuedonym here). All original storylines for the series are not owned by said author and he has made up this story you are about to read himself. Don't sue me, were not worthy. (Note: Creators of Waynes World please do not sue me either.). And please remember to Review the fic after you have finished, please.  
  
Evangelion: The Forgotten Realms  
  
Chapter One: Rain  
  
It was raining.  
  
It was also nearly winter, and raining.  
  
Combining these factors it turned the day into a gray, dismal, soggy muck.  
  
At least that is what it was for some people. To Shinji the Black: it was just another day in his short life. A life filled with unfufilled vengance waiting to rain down on the heads of those who had murdered his mother. Unfufilled vengance for the father he had never known and who had ordered his own wifes death. Vengance waiting for the secrete organization of shadows: The NERV cloister.  
  
But that wasn't important now. What was is that Shinji was cold, tired, hungry, and wet. Very wet.  
  
He continued on in spite of all of this, ignoring the nasty mud and clawing trees illuminated by sudden flashes of lightning from the angry clouds high above him.  
  
"Talos is happy tonight." His weary but melodious voice croaked out as he stopped for a moment to catch his breath and bearings. He gave a grim smile at the sky before facing forward in the darkness and stumbling on. He continued this way for another half hour until he finally spied what he was seeking in that dead of night. The Friendly Arms Inn.  
  
"Gods be praised, I'm finally here."  
  
He scrabbled haphazardly down the hill he was on, at one point slipping in the mud and wet grass and falling quite a ways, and finally arrived at the front portcullis. Two guards, decked in chainmail and each carrying a pike and longsword straightened at his approach and demanded he remove the hood of his cloak that Shinji kept up. He complied, revealing a face that was thin and fair, framed by long locks of raven black hair and unshading eyes of deep blue that from a distance appeared to be brown or black.  
  
"What be ye name traveler?" Asked the right guard.  
  
"Shinji the Black. Out of the Greenfields." The blue lipped boy replied. For indeed he was a boy, barely out of his eighteenth birthday. The guards looked at him for a moment and then inspected his backpack and belongings. They found his small collection of daggers, his bastard sword: old and tarnished in its anchient sheath, and his harp.  
  
"Ye'r a bard lad?"  
  
"I play." Shinji nodded his head, droplets of water falling from his matted locks of hair.  
  
"Well, I do belive the inn'd be want'n ye to play a piece or two for them. Bently might even charge less ifn'd you do that." One guard replied.  
  
"I'll keep aware of that. Thank ye kindly."  
  
"Right, now: remember townly rules do apply here. So don' go killin noone we know an ye'll be fine off in here."  
  
"Yes, of course."  
  
He passed through without another incident and quickly made his way across the open courtyard and up the steps of the Friendly Arm Inn. The only inn after Beregost and before the port of Baldur's Gate. The heavy oak door swung open with a creak and Shinji stepped into the blessed warmth of the room, letting the conversation wash over him. Quickly enough one of the serving wenches swept up to him, letting her eyes quickly run over his face as she appraised him quickly. He blushed at her prying eyes but managed to ask one question.  
  
"Can you t-tell me where the i-innkeeper is?" He was shaking badly from the cold that lingered in his wet clothes.  
  
"Yes I can. 'Es over at the bar. Ye can see him for room and goods as well as a tankard or two of our ales." She coyly responded, helping off the sodden black cloak and hanging it on a rack filled with smilarly drenched garments.  
  
"Thanks." Was all she heard before he had wandered off into the crowd.  
  
Shinji threaded his way through the loud and boisterous people that populated the one lonely inn north of Candelkeep and managed not to stumble into anyone as he finally reached the bar. Only to find no one behind it.  
  
Shinji was about to turn away when he heard a loud and thick voice call up to him over the ceder woodwork.  
  
"Can I help ye lad?"  
  
Shinji turned and peered over the bar to find a short, squat, wrinkled face of a gnome staring up at him from behind wire rimmed glasses.  
  
"Yes. I'm looking for room tonight. Any avalible?"  
  
"One, but 'ts the bards 'oom and can only tak'n by the play'r o tee even'n."  
  
"I see." Shinji dreaded this moment. He rapidly thought of his possibilites out in the cold of the storm and dismissed them rapidly, he personally thought he might as well brave the storm because there was no way anyone would like his songs enough to let him stay for the night...but, what the hell. "Well then my good gnome, consider it filled because a player has arrived."  
  
Shinji pulled his harp from its waterproof casing, the only thing in his sack that wasn't wet at all! And strummed it a bit, making adjustments to the strings before pulling up a seat and setting the instrument gently on his leg. He began to pick and strum, letting a melody come by itself as it always did. He found the song starting off gently and then turning meloncholy. He opened his mouth soon afterwards and began to sing.  
  
"One was tall, gracious and fair.  
  
The other shorter and with a face full with hair.  
  
The first a poet with beauty and love to spare,  
  
the second a beliver with power and ideals.  
  
They were unlikely, but somehow fated,  
  
To be united and treated with a son.  
  
But disaster soon followed, and murder was done.  
  
The poet was slain, by none other than her husband.  
  
And the son was left alone to die.  
  
But die he did not, instead he flourished.  
  
And in his spare time he nourished a hatred,  
  
for those who slayed his mother.  
  
Vengence he cried, when will I recive it?  
  
Be it from the gods or be it from my sword.  
  
He does not know, for he travels still evermore.  
  
Resting fretfully in the night, trusting little.  
  
He races for destiny: sword flashing bright in his hands  
  
As he fights and slays, trying to strike at those who he hates.  
  
The ones who created the creature he became.  
  
The ones who created the pit of darkness his soul now finds fufilling  
  
As his enemies gut spill out onto his hands."  
  
The last chords of the song he finished in silence, the entire inn had gone silent but for a few stray noises that came from plates and tankards and from the old floorboards of the inn itself. The last string fell silent and he let his gaze wander over the turned faces in the crowd. One younger man was the first to break the silence.  
  
"Pray young sir! Would ye tell us who the song is about?"  
  
"A friend of mine," Shinji answered as he started up another tune, this one lighter than that before. "Last I heard he nearly died somewhere south of here."  
  
"Well, best not to dwell on such things good sir. Pray, string us another tune." Sang out another, this pronouncement was followed by a racous roar of approval that made Shinji's face turn red.  
  
So he played.  
  
*******************************************  
  
"Do you know what you are to do?" A darkly dressed and cloaked figure asked the creature that stood brooding next to him. That creature took a moment to turn his deep obsidion eyes towards the figure and growl impatiently at it before turning back to peer through the shroud of rain.  
  
"Do you know what to do?" The figure asked again. This time accompanied by a faint rasp of steel rubbing against leather.  
  
"Yes. I will not fail, Master Assasin."  
  
"Be sure you do not. Go."  
  
As the cloaked figure watched impassivly the dark-eyed creature sprang from underneath the small outcropping of rock that shielded them from the fury of Talos and splashed off into the deep dark of the night, uncannily dodging left and right around trees as though it was the brightest day in all of Faerun. And the figure laughed, his ebony colored hand easily resheathing the black dagger in its hidden place.  
  
"Soon, my masters plan will come to fruitation." An unspoken statement followed the procamation: if I want him too.  
  
Shinji was in his fifth song for the eve when there came a sudden ringing of bells from outside the comfortable stone walls of the inn. All at once the tavern fell silent as eyes turned to watch Bently Mirrorshade. He listened for a moment and then his eyes widened, the last they saw of him before he lept down from his stool and began rummaging underneath the bar. At his unseen cue, several other gnomes sprang from hidden corners and passageways: all rushing for the door and knocking crossbows with quarrels. Several men, hardened mercinaries or adventurers, took their own cue from this and sprang for their cloaks and weapons. A few of them started walking for the door just as Mirrorshade emerged from behind the bar covered in gleaming chainmail and carrying a large dwarvish axe in his hands.  
  
"ALRIG'T LIST'N UP! Som'n is approaching through ta fores'. We need eve'y avalible man o' woman to help us def'n ta gates. So if'n ye'd please follow me, if not: then stay 'n here and block ta door."  
  
Several more men and a few women rushed up the stairs to head for their rooms. As they passed Shinji he noticed a few scars on several of them so he assumed that they were heading for armor and weapons for themselves. He turned back in time to see another gnome, a female dressed in robes with a symbol dedicated to Tyr: the god of justice emblazoned on the cuffs and front. She was supporting a taller and thinner female that caused many hearts to leap around the room at her delicate beauty. Her ice blue hair fell in ragged locks that clung to her face and somewhat hid the sharp points of her ears. But her pale skin, the color of a full moon definitly gave away her heritage moreso than anything else: she was a moon elf, and from the large splotch of red that graced the side of her clinging dress she was a wounded elf. In a flash Shinji and a few others were around the gnome and her cargo, gently easing the elf down on a hastily cleared table. Shinji and another man pulled away her clenched fingers so as to inspect the wound in her side and in doing so he caught a glimpse of a silver moon with a crest above the top portion. But it was hidden again beneath the folds of her clothing and more pressing matters came to hand.  
  
"Lea' me trough, lea' me trough'!" Cried the gnome as she hopped onto a table and pushed Shinji's hands away from the elf.  
  
The wound was bad. A deep cut ran down the right side, just above the breast, and continued down until it met her hip.  
  
"Stan' back a bit." The priestess ordered. Once she had some room she cupped her hands together over the angry red cut and began chanting in a prayer to the god of justice, praying for his divine help in saving the mangled woman before her. The prayer finished and a blue glow enveloped the body of the elf and then slowly faded, leaving the wound closed and healed, but still slightly reddish.  
  
The gnome breathed in deeply for a moment or two before looking up at the gathered people.  
  
"Whater ye all gawkin' at! Don you know we've got comp'ny com'n! Git out there an' FIGHT!" She yelled, instantly scattering the people.  
  
Except for Shinji, who stood looking a moment more at the beautiful elf's face before he himself turned and headed out the door.  
  
"Who was that girl? And where did she come from? She...looks familiar, and she's very beautiful...Come off it man, keep yer mind focused. No time to get lovesick."  
  
He continued to argue with his mind as he wrapped his dry cloak around his shoulders and stepped out into the dark, pouring rain. Just in time to witness the front drawbridge and portcullis explode inwards with a sheet of flame and splinters of wood richoceting across the courtyard and stone walls. Men flailed wildly as they were alit with magical flames of hells fury while others screamed as they were launched backwards from impaling pieces of wood and superheated metal that boiled their skin and blood.  
  
It was through that hell of the gate that someone, no: something stepped through the flames and stopped. Shinji felt a chill corse through his frame as he came under momentary scrutiny from the cold black glints of reflected firelight he saw coming through the hood of the cloak that was wrapped around the head of the creature.  
  
"HERE ME MORTALS! For I have come seeking one thing. Your lives will be spared agonizing moments of torture and givin a swift end if you but hand over the elf I saw run in here!"  
  
The creature drew out a sword that gleamed erily bright in the dark stormy night, as though a section of Selune had been broken off and affixed permenantly around the steel. In that moment three brave men: one of them a gnome; charged forward with roars of battle on their lips. Down chopped the sword and the uncomfortably familiar ring of steel against steel echoed across the land. Then there was an unfamiliar sound that made men flinch and grind their teeth. One of the swords opposing the bright blade shattered, and shards went flying into the night sky: flashing brightly with warm light from the buring gates. Then there followed a dull thwack and a muffled scream as a head followed the way of the shards and flew up into the sky, a fountian of blood following from the severed arteries in the neck.  
  
The remaining two men glanced at each other before letting loose another blood-curdling cry and swinging again.  
  
First one blade then the other was deflected and sent spedily into the unprotected ribcages of the others weilder. The two brave souls died from the others attacks, questioning looks on their faces as blood flowed from their mouths.  
  
"FOOLS! FLEE IN FEAR FROM THE WRATH OF SACHIEL, THE ANGEL OF THE BLADE!"  
  
As he lifted his arms high the body of the creature was finally revealed. By the flickering torchlight Shinji and the rest of the now frightened fighters spied a thin, gangly body that wore no clothing and had no genitalia at all. The one thing it did have apparent in its darkly colored body was a wierdly exposed ribcage that surrounded a small red orb that glowed deep red with internal fire. Fire that now started forming itself around the upraised sword and open palm of the remaining hand.  
  
Shinji was afraid.  
  
Silent Notes: Well, hit a writersblock with my other fic Spy vs. Spy and was trying to drum up a story when I finally said "screw it" and relaxed my brain a bit. I had finally gotten my copy of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon back and was nearly done with the movie when I thought up of an idea. It wasn't a new idea for me because I had already expanded on the original basis with Asuka, My Love. Basicly: Give Shinji a cool sword and a badass set of armor and have him fight the angels similarly equipped. AML was actually the first of any of my original three fics to be liked by more than two people. This fic is probably something that will be expounded upon in several dimensions. One: I know a helluva lot about D&D and the Forgotton Realms lands, I've played the lands for nearly four years and have read way too many books by several authors (Ed Greenwood and R.A. Salvator Kick ASS! Ed was the man who made the FR in the first place and is a excellent writer.) But for this I am going to try and mold the characters into Player Character classes and Races (Elf, Human, Dwarven, Gnome) as their original characters suggest.  
  
I.E. : Shinji is a bard because of his chello, Asuka a paladin because: influence from Children of an Elder God where she plays a red knight, Kensuke plays a gnomish inventor wizard, Toji a dwarven fighter, Hikari: Dunno a Half-elven something. You get the picture.  
  
But enough of this rant. Keep watching for more chapters to be added soon. After all, this is one subject that I can write about endlessly.  
  
Silent One 


	2. The Death of the creature

An Evangelion Fanfic written by:  
  
The Silent One  
  
All characters are owned by (insert owners name here) and not by (insert fanfic authors Psuedonym here). All original storylines for the series are not owned by said author and he has made up this story you are about to read himself. Don't sue me, were not worthy. (Note: Creators of Waynes World please do not sue me either.). And please remember to Review the fic after you have finished, please.  
  
Evangelion: The Forgotten Realms  
  
Chapter Two: A New Side of Darkness.  
  
"FOOLS! FLEE IN FEAR FROM THE WRATH OF SACHIEL, THE ANGEL OF THE BLADE!"  
  
As he lifted his arms high the body of the creature was finally revealed. By the flickering torchlight Shinji and the rest of the now frightened fighters spied a thin, gangly body that wore no clothing and had no genitalia at all. The one thing it did have apparent in its darkly colored body was a wierdly exposed ribcage that surrounded a small red orb that glowed deep red with internal fire. Fire that now started forming itself around the upraised sword and open palm of the remaining hand.  
  
Shinji was afraid.  
  
"Die you BASTARD!!" Shouted one man, his fear temporarily blinded by his thrist for vengance. He charged forward with his spear of nearly seven feet leveled across his chest. The tip bounced and waivered wildly around in small circles as he ran forward in an attempt to strike while the creatures guard was still high. He closed in and looked about as though to strike home when the free hand snapped down with blinding speed and grabbed the tip of the spear. Hidden muscle suddenly sprang forward and thickened the arm holding the spear to nearly three times its original size as it lifted the spearshaft and the man high into the air. The hand then let go and its head turned to watch the poor man sail across the courtyard to impact head on into the stone wall, his neck snapping with a loud crack and his head splitting with a wet splat. The spear clattered nosily next to the mans limp body as it finally slumped down into the wet mud.  
  
There came a chilling sound from the cretures still hidden head. As though it was laughing coldly at the futile waste of life.  
  
"Fools. All of you, FOOLS!"  
  
The hooded head snapped around and its hand leveled at a quartet of fighters hidden behind the stone kiln of the blacksmith. Red-orange fire raced up the arm, heating the water so rapidly as to envelop the body in a blanket of steam; and then shooting out at the unfortunant men in a stream of expanding death. The warriors scrambled to take cover behind the impassive stone only to find themselves hurtled backwards as the kiln exploded into shards that sailed effortlessly through their leather armor and thin metal plates that covered only portions of their flesh.  
  
The flash momentarily blinded everyone and as their visions cleared they finally saw the creature gesturing carefully as it lowered its head against the glaring flames of the burning roof that once covered the blacksmiths shop. Suddenly the area around Sachiel shimmered with magical energy and then sputtered with orange smoke as creatures came in to being out of thin air. Two hounds, unnaturally thin and haggerd, sprang from this swirling mass of smoke and unleashed flames from their mouths that scorched and consumed men as they scrambled to defend themselves against this new threat.  
  
"Hell Hounds. Bastard!" The dwarf next to Shinji spat before he lept off of the seven foot tall stone stair way. The fighter rolled as he landed and rushed off to fight, pulling out two heavy axes as he ran to help a smaller gnome fend off one of the conjured beasts.  
  
"Time for some magic of my own."  
  
Shinji splayed his fingers infront of his body and began to trace out an intricate pattern in the air. At the same time he began muttering underneath his breath arcane gibberish that convayed a sense of power to those who still remained behind him. Suddenly the air slightly lower down on the steps shimmered and emmited a poof of violet colored smoke and from out of this swirl of magic emerged three dogs with silver fur and flashing silvery eyes.  
  
"Go, defend the people and distract the hounds." He mentally commanded. The dogs bowed their heads and rushed off to attack the Hell Hounds.  
  
After they ran off Shinji reached down and pulled free his old and tarnished bastard sword, its handle worn and rusty but its blade keen and tested by his many wanderings into unfriendly places. Looks like this would be no different.  
  
The beast was now advancing for the stairs, unleashing a blast of fire that consumed one of the conjured dogs, a counjured hound, and three fighters all at once. Shinji felt his stomach turn violently as he caught a glimpse of one mans skull being burned clean before the mass fell and dissapeared in a blaze of fire.  
  
Then there came a sudden gesture from the creature that was directed to the stairs. A ball of fire formed quickly infront of the cupped palm and hovered a second before speeding rapidly for the top.  
  
"JUMP!" Shinji yelled behind him before he rolled forward and down the stairs. A few managed to leap off to the side or scrabble back into the inn but two weren't so fortunant. As Shinji felt a wave of heat wash over his bouncing form he heard a rumble followed by an explosion punctuated by two angonizing screams. His heart wrenched violently at the sound of it as he rolled up on his feet at the bottom of the stairs. Coming eye to chest with the attacking monster.  
  
"You are quite fast little one. Perhaps you are worthy enough to fight with me?" Came the low mocking voice.  
  
Shinji dove aside fast enough to avoid the flame encrusted fist before it crushed his skull and managed to slice down on the top forearm as he passed. The blade bit down and blood that burst into flame sprouted forth, coating his sword.  
  
"AAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!! IMPUDENT BUG! YOU DARE SCRATCH ME!!!" Sachiel screamed.  
  
And before Shinji could roll out of the inhuman monsters reach it had spun its foot around in a fast, hard kick that connected with his arm. There was a sicking crunch as the foot crushed the bones in the forearm and a sharp rattle as the sword fell unheeded from Shinji's nerve wracked hands. Numbly he recalled something screaming in the distance not realizing it was him before the monster reached down with his empty hand and lifted him up by the collar of his studded leather armor.  
  
"Well little one, you are quite a nuscience to me. And now you must die." The demons black eyes never waivered as it almost casually swung its own sword around to slash the face of a charging half-elf, cutting cleanly through his two ears and killing him easily.  
  
"Now then, die...die and know that you died for nothing, for my master will succeed and this world will come to nothing but dust and ash!"  
  
The monster then slammed his forehead into Shinji's own, and then did it again, and again, and again. He slammed his head into Shinji's until the nose was broken and the right eye was swollen shut and blood ran from a dozen cuts along the top of his face. Then Sachiel threw the unconsious body into the stacked collection of empty boxes and barrels near the stairs, causing several to break and one to shatter completely.  
  
"These foolish mortals know nothing of my masters great plan. Thus they will submit or perish. For the glory of NERV, I will not fail him!" Sachiel proclaimed solemnly to himself before he started moving up the stairs. Proud that he was the first and only one to complete his masters task. Him the weakest of his brethern.  
  
***********************************************  
  
Shinji opened his eyes. He sat up quickly, only to get wrapped up in the sheets of the bed he was in. He glanced around to find himself in a room, presumably in the Friendly Arms Inn. As he twisted to look he suddenly cried out softly in pain, the sore muscles he had accumulated letting themselves be known.  
  
"Strange...wasn't I outside in the rain...fighting? But what was I fighting?"  
  
Shaking his head clear of thought he untangled himself from his bedsheets and tenderly shifted his legs over to the edge. After tenatiously standing up from the bed, rubbing his aching back as he did so, he moved over to the window and flung open its shutters. A quick sensation of vertigo swept over him as he found himself peering out the third floor of the inn and out into the front of the courtyard. It was a mess, the blacksmiths shop was nothing more than a square of burnt rubble. A house that stood unnoticed in the far corner of the courtyard was collapsed, smoke rising from the middle of the wreckage as men and women swarmed over the area shifting bricks and wood beams out of the way: searching for something. The drawbridge was gone, and several bodies lay off to one side, covered in dirty bloodstained sheets or sometimes nothing at all. Several others were lined up on the other side of the courtyard, near the temple to Tyr. Its meger collection of clerics and priests roaming through the wounded and dying. Casting healing prayers or comforting the dying wherever they thought it appropriate. He was about to turn away from the window when he noticed a taller woman dressed in dirtied white robes moving about. She had an unruly mop of blue hair, she was the elf that had been badly wounded the night before. Shinji stood, mesmerized by her movements for several minutes until he was startled by an abrupt knock at the door.  
  
"Master Shinji! Are you awake?" Called out someone, the same someone who entered merely seconds later.  
  
"Ah, Master Shinji. Please sir, follow me and we can scrounge up some sort of food for you." The speaker was a halfling, short but tall for its kind. His round face framed by straw colored locks that curled near the bottom.  
  
"How...how long have I been unconsious?" Shinji clumsily asked as he limped over to his host, his leg picking an unpleasent time to cramp up.  
  
"Oh, not long. Only two days now. We'd thought ye'd die when we first found you. Nasty explosion that was." The halfling continued talking as he led Shinji down a flight of stairs and onto another floor. Most of it Shinji didn't understand but he held his tounge untill they reached the bottom floor and he was greeted by a small cheer. Looking around he noticed not everyone cheering for him, not that he knew why they cheered at all. Some stared back at him, cold menacing stares they were too. One particularly nasty one came from a dwarf, the same dwarf who had rushed to save the gnome that now sat beside him. The bespectacled short fellow peered out at Shinji's limping frame and then went back to following the line of scribbles that his hand was scratching out in a book thick with paper.  
  
"'Es way sir! Please keep up!" Called the host, now a good distance away from the staircase. Shinji hurridly limped to catch up and sat down at the seat offered him with a groan.  
  
"Nice work their lad!" One older man said as he leaned in close to pat Shinji's shoulder rather roughly.  
  
"Greatest fight I ever saw!" Said another.  
  
"Brilliant, bloody brilliant youngster. I owe my life to ya!" Yet another man congradulated him. Several more looked as though they would follow that lead when a loud voice made them all quiet down.  
  
"ALL RIGHT YE BLOODY IDIOTIC FELLERS! Lets let the lad ate a bite a'fore ye bombard his poor mind wit yer' confounded thank yers!"  
  
It was Bently Mirrorshade, hobbling up wrapped in bandages carrying a bowl of stew and a flagon filled with a sour smelling ale. He plunked both items down and glared menacingly at all of the onlookers, forcing them to turn away and mind their own business before he also sat down. He pulled out a pipe as Shinji ravenously tore into the stew, realizing for the first time he was starved.  
  
"Well laddie," Bently puffed gently on his pipe and blew out a ring of evil smelling smoke. "Looks like ye pulled through well enough."  
  
"Pardon me but...pulled through what? What the hell happened to me?"  
  
"Ye don' rememba?" A stream of smoke wafted out from between the gnomes teeth and curled around his bulbous nose.  
  
"No. What happened to Sachiel? Why did he attack here?"  
  
"Don' know. 'Es dead."  
  
Shinji was dimly aware of the spoon sliping from his fingers and splashing into the wonderful stew; what was left of it anyway.  
  
"Who killed him?" Shinji started dreading what was going to be the answer.  
  
"Why, ye did lad. Damndest thang I e'er saw too."  
  
Shinji stared intensely at the smaller man. "How?"  
  
"Well...I don' know all ta details, but..."  
  
"Then tell me what you might know." Shinji leaned forward and spoke low, causing Mirrorshade to be silent for a moment as he noticed Shinji's face flicker between something intangible; and something terrifying.  
  
"Alrig'...ye'd just been knocked inter ta empty crates, an the monster was jus' gettin up ta stairs when fer some reas'n it stop'd. T'en ye come fly'n outa dem broken crates an tackl'd ta creature head on. Ye sent it fly'n offa ta stairs an inta ta church wall. Pretty big damn dent to! T'en ye had som' kinder blue light wash over ya. Donno wha it was, but when it was gone yer eyes was sorta....sorta, I dunno: seepin fire."  
  
"What do you mean 'seeping fire'?" Shinji sat back and sipped his ale, his face wincing as the taste washed over his tounge.  
  
"It wasn't colored like normal fire...it was mor'n like white fire...an it came from ye'r eyes lad. Did'n burn ye, but frighten tha hell out 'o tha monster."  
  
"So how did I kill it? Was there a sword nearby?" Shinji noticed that several of the men nearby had stopped everything and were listining to the story unfold.  
  
"Naw, ye first punch it in ta hea' a few time. T'en ye grab its ribs an pulled two 'o them out. Blood eve'y where, eve'ything catchin' on fire from its demon blood. T'en ye start bang'n away at tha red circle in its midder, and all a sudden it screams out and burst inta flames, ye were sent fly'n back inta tha stairs jist a'fore ta thing exploded. An now we go a big 'ole in ta wall 'stead 'o a dent." Mirrorshade finished, pipesmoke wafting around his head in a sort of perverse halo.  
  
Suddenly that sense of vertigo came back to Shinji, and he gripped the side of the table hard enough to cause it to groan a bit and compress. Several of the men and a few of the women around him looked concerned as he stood up suddenly and asked for his gear.  
  
"'Ts, upsta'rs in ye'r room. Ar' ye alright lad?"  
  
"Fine, just...fine."  
  
Shinji left the room full of confused faces and raced back up to the room. He slammed the door shut, eliciting a shout of annoyance from the quarters next to his own, and started rummaging through the room. Once he had gathered his possesions he started dressing immediatly. It was as he strapped on his swordbelt that he remembered something about himself from that night. Slowly, almost in a frightened manner he pulled around his left arm and stared at it. Then he reached up and gently felt his nose and his forehead. There were some healed over cuts, and his nose felt a little larger than usual; but there was no pain, no red sting that penetrated his mind.  
  
"The white light...must have been some kind of healing spell. But...I didn't have that kind of healing availible to me that night. So who..."  
  
Shinji shook his head in idle speculation and instead focused on preparing himself for his trip into Baldur's Gate. He was already a day behind schedule and if he stayed here any longer he would be two days later than he wanted.  
  
"Father, soon I will find you. And I will have my vengance. I Will!"  
  
Shinji flung open the door to his room, once again casuing the person in the next room to shout for him to keep it down, and blindly rushed out the door: into a tall, white clad person.  
  
"Watch-!"  
  
"AAUGH-!"  
  
The two collided full on and fell into a heap at the door, Shinji having the unfortunant grace to be on top. He muttered several times as he picked himself off of the floor and opened his eyes. Only to meet the strangest crimson red eyes staring back at him from a near perfect face framed by two long and pointed ears as well as a mop of ice blue hair. Shinji felt his breath being taken away from him as he stared endlessly into the deep wells of her eyes, until...  
  
"Would you get off."  
  
"Hun?" Shinji was caught off guard by the elfs melodious but somehow flat voice, he then felt a soft warmth from underneath his left hand and glanced down. His hand was square on the girls breast, her small and perfect bosom.  
  
"Waugh!" He practicly flipped himself off of the girl and was stammering through his apologies when she intterupted him.  
  
"Please, it was my fault. I have a request to ask you sir, if you would but listen to it."  
  
"I, um, well, um...sure." Shinji sat upright against the doorframe as the elf sat up and straightened her dress, a new one apparently because there were no bloodstains or dirt smudges on its white purity.  
  
"My name is Rei of the Ayanami, a river far to the east from here. I was forced to flee this way because seven months ago fifteen creatures calling themselves the Angels of Prophecy descended on my village. They slaughtered everyone there, including my brother and mother, and serched relentlessly for the blue haired wench." The elf wiped away the single tear that had collected on her lower eyelid and blinked once, the first time Shinji noticed her blink before she continued. "I'm the only possibility for them to seek. Ever since then I've been on the run, with the fifteen pursuing me relentlessly from my village. No one who has stood against them has lived. Everyone flees in terror or dies horribly if they dare to stand."  
  
"And what do you want me to do?" Shinji asked timidly.  
  
"Protect me."  
  
"What?" His head snapped up and his eyes shone with confusion and dismay.  
  
"I need to go to Waterdeep, to find asylum from those who wish to do me harm. I hear that Lord Blackstaff has the Lady Lareal as his wife, we were children together once and I know that she would protect me from these agents of evil if she knew of them."  
  
"So why choose me? Last thing I recall is my ass getting pummeled by this, this...Angel whatever you call them. It was only by Tymora's hand that I lived."  
  
"But you also destroyed one of the fifteen. Several brave men have died against him alone, several more fled in terror as he approached them."  
  
"But, I...I can't. Its too dangerous for you to come with me!"  
  
The conversation died for a moment following Shinji's loud anouncement. The only sound came from the snores of the room beside them and the conversation in the tavern below. Finally Rei asked her question.  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"I...I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone. They would all be afraid of me, and I would be shunned...wherever I went. Look, just forget about me. Find someone else to get you to Waterdeep. Someone safer than myself."  
  
Shinji stood and glanced once back into the room, then stepped around the sitting Rei and headed for the stairs. She sat and listened to his feet softly thump down the wood and then down the other flight to the tavern entrance.  
  
"But you are the only one who can protect me...Shinji the Black." She whispered to the air, as though someone would overhear her private little moment, and sell it on the streets of Athkatla for two copper a word.  
  
Silent Notes: Okay, yet another chapter. I'm trying to keep this parallel to the series as much as possible. Maybe a slight change in the timing of events and such but still most of this stuff is recognizable as coming more or less directly from the series.  
  
Except it is set in the fantasy world of Forgotton Realms created by the ultimate badass creator of Elminster the Sage: Choosen of Mystra  
  
ED GREENWOOD!!  
  
Kudos also to R.A. Salvator: maker of the ultimate badass good Drow Elf Drizzt Do'Urden. Gotta Love 'Im!  
  
As to the part where Rei cries a bit: weeeeelllll, it is IC for her: she does gain emotion in the series before she dies in Eva 00 (just enough to cry) and really for an elf she is totally OC.  
  
Explination: Elves are the most playful and carefree of all the races. Somber races usually are Dwarves, Gnomes, and Drow Elves who spend most of their time fighting, creating, or just brooding. Elves usually spend time working on the arts and partying. PARTY!!!!! So for an elf not to show emotion for something like the death of a sibling or a parent usually means that they either hated each other greatly, or they were magicly altered to be rid of all emotion.  
  
Sorry Eva hardcores: I know way to much about these sort of things for you to get all worked up about. Remember: this is part of D&D too, not just solely dedicated to remaining IC for Evangelion.  
  
DEAL WIT IT!  
  
The Silent One 


	3. Mysterious Elves, unfriendly Dwarves, ca...

An Evangelion Fanfic written by:  
  
The Silent One  
  
All characters are owned by (insert owners name here) and not by (insert fanfic authors Psuedonym here). All original storylines for the series are not owned by said author and he has made up this story you are about to read himself. Don't sue me, were not worthy. (Note: Creators of Waynes World please do not sue me either.). And please remember to Review the fic after you have finished, please.  
  
Evangelion: The Forgotten Realms  
  
Chapter Three: Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Angels....Ah Damn!  
  
"But you are the only one who can protect me...Shinji the Black." She whispered to the air, as though someone would overhear her private little moment, and sell it on the streets of Athkatla for two copper a word.  
  
************************************  
  
Shinji quickly made his way down to the tavern and after thanking Bently Mirroshade as well as purchasing two items he might need later on, he stepped outside. And gasped at the sight before him. The entire wall of the temple was indeed collapsed, and a large crater was formed in a semicircle somewhat buried by the walls rubble. Several people were currently shifting through the ruined partition and removing less damaged pieces to be salvaged. Shinji sighed heavily before he stomped his way down the stairs and through the litters of bodies in the courtyard. Slowly and carefully he weaved in and out of the dead and dying and finally made it to the ruined drawbridge, the two guards from the night before helping clear away the ruined house off to the right. One of them looked up and noticed him.  
  
"Hey! You're the guy that took down that monster two nights ago, right?"  
  
The other looked up and then back down to the stones at his feet.  
  
"Yeah, I guess I am." Shinji solemnly intoned. "What happened here?"  
  
"The explosion shook the ground for miles around, this old building here simply couldn't take the shockwave...we think some people were still inside when it went..."  
  
Silence fell as the two guards turned their eyes downward and then went back to sorting through the rubble for bodies. He watched for a few moments longer and then walked out the blackened stone archway.  
  
Sliding down the rocky trench that seperated the small expanse of the front from the forest beyond and then scaling up the other side he turned backwards and survyed the damage wrought on the place of rest.  
  
"Why does this always happen? Why? Anywhere I go, trouble follows me...and people die...I hate this life."  
  
"Well then, you should feel some remorse shouldn't you."  
  
The voice was thick and rough, coming from underneath thick strands of brownish black hair that formed a long, thick, braided beard. What hair that came from the the crown of his head was hidden beneath a dented and well-worn helmet with a movable face guard. From underneath this mass of unruly hair peered out two small and beady eyes of deep brown. The dwarf, for it was a dwarf, was also outfitted with a well scratched set of scalemail armor and a matching pair of knotched and scratched axes crossed over his backside. Standing slightly behind and off to the right of the dwarf stood a gnome: thin for its kind but wearing the usual wirerimmed spectacles for its race, with short brown hair and a thin mustach and goatee; it fidgited as he watched the staredown take place.  
  
"Why should I?" Came his cold response.  
  
The dwarf growled menacingly and brought one of his hands forward in a fist, shuffling forward a step and kicking up a small cloud of dust as his foot set down roughly.  
  
"Toji..calm down, he's not worth it." Came the high-pitched voice from the nervous voice of the gnome.  
  
"SHADDUP!" The dwarf stormed forward and belly-bumped the slighter Shinji back a few steps before he continued even angrier than before. "My sister was in that house!" His finger pointed at the ruins near the gates, "She was the only family I ever had! She was the only one besides me in my family line! And now...now," The shoulders of the squat muscular man shook as he finally broke down and started to cry. "Now she's dead...all because you had to go an' kill that BASTARDLY CREATURE!"  
  
"So what do you want me to say? I'm sorry?"  
  
At that the eyes snapped up from the ground and fixated themselves on Shinji's torso. Before either Shinji or the gnome could blink the dwarf was barreling forward and slamming both of them back into the rock filled moat. The pair rolled twice and finally ended up at the bottom covered in bruises and scrapes, Shinji moreso than the thougher dwarf. Suddenly he found himself lifted up off of the ground and shaken wildly until he felt his nose start to bleed a bit.  
  
"WHY? WHY DID MY SISTER HAVE TO DIE!! ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME!!"  
  
His answer came in the form of a blurred fist, connecting slightly above the jawline. The blow wasn't powerful, but enough to imbalence the heavier fellow so that Shinji could roll him over and onto his back. He was about to deliver another punch when he felt a bodyblow from behind. The blow merely upset him enough to leave the blow unconnected, and soon another problem arose as two thick and stringy arms wrapped themselves around his head and neck. It was a feeble attempt to force a release so Shinji let the gnome have his fun, as for the dwarf named Toji: his fist drew back once more, in preperation to deliver a knock out punch to the squirmy creature below him.  
  
"Stop."  
  
The three combatants immediatly stopped their various actions and struggles to look up at the source of the voice that seemed, flat yet flighty. Sure enough, the blue haired elf stood nearby; waiting patiently for the three to stop their little fight and pay attention to her.  
  
"Perhaps you should do that elsewhere...there has been enough fighting here. It would not be kind to give these people more death than they already have."  
  
"What the hell do you know! This bastard here helped kill my sister!!" Toji shouted at her, tears running up along the sides of his forehead as he stared back at the pale elf.  
  
"No, he saved lives. Mine, yours, his, those," Rei pointed back into the courtyard at the litters of wounded. "They all survived because he killed the Angel...your sister died because of simple bad luck, Besheba has a way of doing things such as this. For you to condemn this man for saving lives is an exersice in futility."  
  
Shinji felt the hands slide away from his neck, and the dwarf beneath him went rubbery. Slowly and cautiously he stood up and looked down at the two men and then back up at the moon elf.  
  
"Thanks." Was all he said before turning and climbing once more out of the moat. This time there was no obstruction to his path, and he didn't waste his energy in turning back to wave goodbye.  
  
"Its always the same...everywhere I go people end up hurt. I hate my existance for this cruel fate."  
  
****************************************  
  
Two figures stood high above the Friendly Arm Inn. One, wrapped in a dark cloak that continually whipped around, frowned silently and turned to the other. This one was robed as well as cloaked, but unlike the first: its clothes remained calm and undisturbed.  
  
"Your brother failed. So now you must take his place." Came the assasins soft voice.  
  
"I will not fail you. Unlike my predecessor, I am subltly more powerful and dangerous. First I shall deal with the boy, the one who killed the third. Then I shall retrieve the masters request for you." The voice came as a hiss, nearly quiet but at the same time easily heard. It set the teeth of the other man to grinding in thinly vieled nervousness.  
  
"Be sure you don't. If that boy does not finish you then I will should you fail me."  
  
A cold flash of metal emphisied the deadly meaning behind the warning and the creature was smart enough not to belive that it would be carried out if he did fail.  
  
"I, Shamshel, go for my mission."  
  
And without a whisper in the wind, the creature faded from view. Leaving the assasin to resheath his dagger and await the return of one victorious Angel.  
  
"Of course; if that boy could take down Sachiel...he might just be able to destroy this one as well."  
  
The figure contemplated that line of thought for a moment and then moved off to behind the overlooking bluff. Moving north through the trees in the Spiderhaunt Woods and making way for the flourishing port of Baldur's Gate.  
  
******************************************  
  
The dwarf, Toji of the clan Boodaxe: son of Suzahara the Twice Maimed; sat crying softly for his dead sister as his now one and only friend: Kensuke, known as the Spetacled, watched the dissapearing form of Shinji's back as the boy walked down the rough trail. Kensuke let his friend cry for a few more moments and then bent down and placed both of his hands on the sides of Toji's wet cheeks.  
  
"Toji.."  
  
"W-what," The ususally surly dwarf blubbered out. "What do you want."  
  
"We should bury your sister. Come...lets find the body."  
  
Kensuke watched silently as his friends tears dried and his eyes clouded over, then stumbled along after him as he scrambled up the side of the moat and rushed to sort through and find his sisters last mortal remains.  
  
They walked out of the Friendly Arms Inn bailey nearly half an hour later. Toji's arms filled with a long, cloth-wrapped, body shaped package. They walked out into the dangerous Spiderhaunt Woods for nearly a quarter mile before they stopped and Toji finally put down the body of his sister. Toji quickly and efficiently used his axes, bound together with two sturdy pieces of leather, as an improvised spade to dig away a small and shallow square of earth. Kensuke then conjured up a magical servent that carefully lifted her body and gently laid it face down into the black soil of her grave, then he used it to push the upturned ground back into the open square and cover the body.  
  
As he was finishing up, Kensuke noticed that Toji was crying again. Silent tears rolled down his face and dissapeared into the thick braids of his beard.  
  
"I'll leave you for a moment...take as long as you need Toji." The gnome clapped a hand on the stouter fellow's shoulder and grasped it firmly before heading off to another glade.  
  
Kensuke was there for a scant few moments, idly listining to the soft murmur of Toji's farewells, when his highly sensitive ears picked up a faint rustling of leaves from ahead of him. Slowly, barely breathing, his hand dipped down and plucked out a trio of throwing daggers. Kensuke pulled his hand up, daggers set one a fingerspace, and carefully aimed it at the direction the sound was coming from.  
  
Soon enough, the leaves closer by started to move, bend, sway, and bounce as something came haphazerdly through them.  
  
"A little more...just a little more!" Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as his arm slightly dipped from the strain of the position. Then there came a flurry of motion, the branches parted and bent aside.  
  
Kensuke slowly lowered his hand and ducked aside into a small grove of young sapwoods.  
  
From the grove came snuffling and snorting that slightly rose above the heavy, slow footfalls as the bear wandered through the open area of forest. It stoped at the spot Kensuke had stood in, looking down as its nose tried to identify who the stranger to the forest was. It stopped abruptly and looked around as Kensuke began chanting harsh arcane whispers and gestruing in small fluid motions as the beggining of a spell was started. The bear located the source of the enigmatic noise and started to edge forward only to be struck by a golden ball of light that shot from the cupped hands of its caster. The bear...whimpered and immediatly fled back through the opening in the trees. Leaving a smirking Kensuke happy at his accomplishment.  
  
"Not bad...not bad at all I say!" He whispered self gratiatingly for his own pleasure.  
  
"Perhaps," The voice made Kensuke freeze, chills ran down his spine as its low hiss continued. "But perhaps it will not be good enough to save you from me."  
  
Toji feebely wiped his cheeks with the back of his stained and weathered hands as he finished his broken goodbye to the last of his family. He stood a moment longer as his mind slowly memorized the location and feel of the gravesite, his body wanting to leave but his mind wanting to stay forever in its softly lit, cool bourghs.  
  
Then came Kensuke's scream of pain, more like a loud gurgle really. The end part of it dying off in an unintelligable sounding rasp of...submittance? Toji raced over to his axes and ripped the leather apart in his haste to prepare himself to fight. He rushed through the last of the tree branches and stopped cold.  
  
His friend dangled from a tree branch, his feet nearly two feet off of the ground. Thin streams of white smoke curled away from his head and neck as his hands, feebely attempting to free his neck from the thick brownish material wrapped around it, fell uselessly to his side. Toji sreamed in rage as the forehead dipped sideways and Kensuke's tounge lolled out of his mouth, thick and purplish to match his face color as the precious supply of air was prolongedly choked off.  
  
"KENSUKE!"  
  
There was a thick swoosh of air followed by a wet snap as one of Toji's twin axeblades sliced into the odd rope that meant slow death to his longtime friend and buried itself into the tree behind it with a sharp thunk. Toji rushed forward in a hasty attempt to grab Kensuke before he fell and broke something important, managing to slow the fall enough to allow for a soft landing on the pile of leaves and grass below.  
  
"Kensuke!..Kensuke! Wake up! WAKE UP!"  
  
"No amount of shaking or name calling will get him awake now, my sweet puppet." Came a hiss from Toji's left.  
  
Thin branches snapped or were cleanly sheared as his second axe was swung in a wide arc through the foliage.  
  
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO KENSUKE!" He angrily shouted.  
  
"Oh don't worry. Your friend isn't permenantly damaged. But I'm afriad he won't be waking up just yet." Came the voice from his right.  
  
Before Toji could do another bonesplintering swipe with his axe, something thick and smooth wrapped itself around his larynx with a thwip. Sharp, stinging pain followed by buring redness seeped up from his neck in rapid succession as he franticly clawed at the obstruction with his free hand. Soon the world started blurring and he dropped the axe in favor of using another hand to attempt to free himself.  
  
"Oh no, no, no...we can't have that."  
  
There came something he had only heard once. His father had died on the fields of battle during a fierce thunderstorm. He died not of arrows or swords, he died not of men but of the whim of the gods. That day he had heard a terrible sound as a thick bolt of lightning arched down from the black clouds and engulfed his patriarch. Then there was smell, the smell of cooked air and roased flesh that accompanied the crisped body.  
  
The sound of lightning roared in his ears before the painful process of electrucution began.But the last thing he remembered was the smell of ozone permeating his nose...and the dull, muted sounds of his pain wracked screames shattering the peace of his sisters gravesite.  
  
*****************************************  
  
Shinji had traveled most of the morning, and a few hours past highsun before he even saw the bridge that crossed the River Chionthar and headed into the east gate of Baldur's Gate. The city walls itself slowly grew higher and higher as he approached the simple and effective toll bridge. Even as he approached he began mentaly calculating what it might take for him to be able to cross over into the city itself as he neared the first archway to pass across the bridge.  
  
Thats when he saw the first of the bodies.  
  
Three men decked in chain with pikes and what looked to be the shattered remains of a longsword scattered across the cobblestones. The same cobblestones now thickly coated by deep crimson blood. The men all wore the same black helms with red sidebands running down from the top to the bottom.  
  
"City guard...but who?" Shinji knelt by one and gently eased his shaking hand into the nearest pool of blood. Warm, but cold enough to be a hour old or so.  
  
"Well, well, well...so glad you finally show."  
  
Shinji snapped upright at the sudden hiss that came from the shadowed archway ahead of him, his hand instantly strayed to the top of his small shoulder satchel. The shadowed figure stepped slightly into the light and partially revealed its features to the boy.  
  
Shinji felt slightly sickened at the weird parody of life he saw in the unnatural creature. Underneath its open cloak and barely concealing robes and near the middle of its chest which held a circular red orb, much like the creature back at Friendly Arms, was a small collection of thin arms that were more like insect legs from large beetles. The head resembled a beetles as well, with two oval shaped white outlinings that contained a small white dot in the center of each. There were no legs as far as Shinji could tell, in fact, the thing wasn't standing on the ground at all! It was hovering slightly in place, the ground a mere six inches away from the bottom of its round and unfeatured lower torso.  
  
"By the nine hells and all the demons of the Abyss what are you!" He shouted as his hand finally reached deep into his satchel and pulled out the item he had purchased from Bently Mirrorshade. The string on the crossbow hummed and spat forth a small, thick quarrel at the inhuman monster.  
  
Shinji swore he heard its raspy voice chuckle at him as he rapidly began to reload the weapon, his hands moving quick enough that as the string reached halfway down the stock his first quarrel struck the target.  
  
And rebounded from the blue circular magic shield that appeared at its tip.  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
"Poor little mortal...still not comprehending anything are you? Come, let us see if others can give some enlightenment to you."  
  
The creature flew backwards from Shinji, who finally reloaded his weapon and leveled it at the retreating form. Deciding quickly that it was too far away to actually damage it he bent down and pull out one of the glaives from underneath a guards body. The helm slammed back down with a wet chang, making Shinji wince as he gripped its blood slicked haft and ran through the arch. He exited out onto a long stone causeway that led down to a smaller wooden drawbridge that was supported by several stone anchored woodbeams that made an inverted L that went out over the river. Small hooks were on the bottoms of the L and lanterns hung on a few of them.  
  
But the one Shinji was concerned with held no illuminating source. Instead it held a gnome and a dwarf...a very familiar pair. The creature had tossed off its cloak and in its three fingered hands it held two strange whips. The whips had metal handles that were inscribed with unfamiliar runes that looked to be anchient elvish, but that wasn't the strangest thing about them. The actual length of whip was...metalic by nature. It shimmered and shined and glinted as their owner let them slide about the wood causing, though the creature never moved his hands itself.  
  
Then there were the sparks that flew from the tips and scorched the thick duskwood beams when the tips came close together.  
  
"Good...you followed." The voice emminated from no discernable mouth, but its hissing was somewhat of an annoyance to Shinji.  
  
"Yeah, I can't have you running around without finding out your name at least. Bad for me and rooming accomidations."  
  
"Witty...if you want to call me something, call me Shamshel: the Angel of Lightning."  
  
"Angel..? What the..not another one of you! Look, what the hell did I do to deserve this, hun? I didn't want to kill your friend, brother, sister, whatever the Abyss that thing was back at Friendly Arms...but he pushed me too far."  
  
"What? Sachiel? You think this is about him? That weak pathetic excuse for an Angel..He Was NOTHING compared to me! This is all about one thing...insurance."  
  
"WHAT?" Shinji gripped the haft of the glaive painfully hard. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"  
  
"Simple," Shamshel flicked his wrists up and the whip-lengths slid into the handles with a sound that reminded one of a snake moving through dry grass. "You took down one of us, and you humans 'are' nortorious for gaining power and experiance rapidly. It is a matter of expediance that for my mission to be carried out, you died first."  
  
"Did it ever occur to you that by just avoiding me the problem could be more easily handled THAT way?"  
  
Shamshel ignored the dripping tone of sarcasm and insted continued on in his soft hissing voice.  
  
"But I can't ignore your threat to my mission...after all, its objective is following you." The creature leveled an arm and pointed behind Shinji.  
  
"Wha?"  
  
Fearing a trick he only half-turned to the side, but in that turn he glimpsed a small piece of white float back into the shadows. Shadows that feebely attempted to conceal eyes of deep red and locks of short ice blue.  
  
"Rei of the Ayanami?! What's she doing here...was she following me?" He thought to himself before quickly turing around to face the Angel.  
  
"So...let us try something here. These two are going to drown, probably, if I cut the rope and let them sink into the Cionthar...you, can save them."  
  
"And how would I do that?" Shinji slowly relaxed his body forcibly.  
  
"Simple...kill me."  
  
There came a single, fast, flicking motion from Shamschel's hand let Shinji know the game had just started. He quickly racked his avalible spells and snarled out a fast armoring spell just as the knife sliced through half of the rope holding the two bound, armed, and armored men to the bridge. As he whipped around his crossbow he noted the soft voice behind him muttering a prayer, no time to delay however as the Angle floated forward quickly in an attempt to close the gap and bring his weapons into play. Shinji's hand tightened on the release trigger, and once more his weapon sang and sent out a deadly piece of metal and wood. It was rebounded once again, but this time it had more impact as it slowed Shamshel down to roughly a quick walk that forced his first swings with the strange whips to pass by a wide margin.  
  
Behind Shinji the prayer stopped and a stream of greenish motes flew out from two palms to encirle the cut in the rope. The rope had been slowly sagging downwards as one fiber and then another gave way underneath the heavy weight its length bore. But now it stopped momentarily as several strands reconnected themselves and the remaining strands found themsevles strengthened. Rei smiled at her work and then turned to reawakening the two bound men held safely but dangerously over the rushing river.  
  
"WENCH! Stay out of this!" Shamschel's hissing voice rose to a shriek as he snapped a whip in her direction. Shinji could smell the ozone that rapidly followed the downward flight of the metal rod and quickly reacted, thrusting the polearm which he had been using to parry with up to intercept the downward flight of the whip as it began to extend.  
  
The massive electrical charge that had built up suddenly found itself discharged violently as it met with an unexpected resistance with the wood shaft of Shinji's glaive. The charge immediatly spent itself on the new contact, instantly vaporising particals of wood and causing others to expand rapidly from the unusual forces being exerted on their grains.  
  
The shaft exploded.  
  
Silent Notes: Well, gonna cut this one short and leave off with a cliffhanger for ya. If some of you have a problem with Toji being a crybaby, or if others have a problem with a dwarf showing too much emotion: Toji loves his sister very much, and YES I am deviating from NGE and YES I DO KNOW IT!! I don't wan't to have Toji's character just running around all over the place and leaving around family ties that I will have to come back to later on. Plus, this is a world set in a time that is very harsh and cruel. Back in anchient times women were raped and children slaughtered daily. The Forgotten Realms and all D&D products are based off of those times, so if I want to kill of people for no good reason: I'm sure I can come up with a wandering band of mercs working for an evil lord to do just that! As to the dwarf crying........................  
  
I dunno: some of them have to be emotional, right? I mean: comon, if he wan'ts to cry in the forest or while he's fighting Shinji let the man cry!  
  
Okay, enough of this rant. Next Fic: The death of Shamshel and the forging of an adventuring group: DOWN WITH NERV!......................................  
  
What do they do again?? 


End file.
